set it down.

"I guess they thought there was goin' to be murder done, for 'Mandy
busted right out cryin' an' come runnin' over to me, an' the hired man
took a step an' stood side o' Lyddy Ann. He was a little mite of a man,
Cyrus was, but he wouldn't ha' stood no violence.

"Josh opened the door that went into the front entry, an' jest p'inted.
'You walk in there,' he says, 'an' you stay there. That's your half o'
the house, an' this is mine. Don't you dast to darken my doors!'

"Lyddy Ann she walked through the entry an' into the fore-room, an' he
shet the door."

"I wouldn't ha' done it!" snorted old Mrs. Page, who had spent all her
property in lawsuits over a right of way. "Ketch me!"

"You would if you'd 'a' been Lyddy Ann!" said Sally Flint, with an
emphatic nod. Then she continued: "I hadn't more'n heard 'Mandy's story
afore I was over there; but jest as I put my foot on the door-sill,
Josh he come for'ard to meet me.

"'What's wanted?' says he. An' I declare for't I was so scairt I jest
turned round an' cut for home. An' there set 'Mandy, wringin' her
hands.

"'What be I goin' to do?' says she, over 'n' over. 'Who ever'd ha'
thought o' this?'

"'The thing for you to do,' says I, 'is to go, straight home to your